[Greenbuilding] Wood by the pound.

[Corwyn]

On 12/27/2010 11:45 AM, Reuben Deumling wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 5:15 AM, Corwyn <corwyn at midcoast.com
> <mailto:corwyn at midcoast.com>> wrote:
>
>       That is, wood heats the same way that oil, or gas heats, so
>     calculating heat loss is sufficient without adding the complication
>     of worrying about fuel type.
>
>
> That I wonder about. My guess would be that wood used to stoke a wood
> stove (rather than say an automated pellet or chip burner which are more
> common in Europe at the household scale) would be different in terms of
> the terminal temperature portion of this calculation. The fact that we
> are the regulator rather than a thermostat, not to mention that most of
> us who heat with wood are involved in a large number of stages in the
> preparation of the fuel, I could imagine that we might husband the
> wood/choose a different or more variable terminal temperature/etc. than
> if we were heating with a liquid fuel. But this is mostly just speculation.
> The physics, which I think is what you were driving at, Corwyn, is
> probably as you say. My interest was in the social--if that is the right
> term--end of the wood heat circumstances.

Well I wasn't speaking solely of the physics.  Given the large possible 
error, I haven't noticed a trend that wood burners use less (or more) 
BTUs as compared to what calculations _say_ they should be using.  My 
spreadsheet has a field for comparing actual to estimated fuel usage, 
and as I mentioned I haven't noticed any obvious patterns forming there. 
  I have NOT done a formal correlation.

I know that for myself, I burn enough wood to make my sweetie warm. 
Given erratic schedules, that means sometimes it is 72°F and sometimes 
it drops down to 58°F (as it did over Christmas when we were absent for 
more than a day).

An interesting question is whether my current heat losses are influenced 
by my burning wood that I need to find, cut, move, split, stack, dry, 
move, re-stack, move, and burn.  Sure is easier to find a leak to patch.

Thank You Kindly,

Corwyn

-- 
Topher Belknap
Green Fret Consulting
Kermit didn't know the half of it...
http://www.greenfret.com/
topher at greenfret.com
(207) 882-7652